Busy Ahok Prepares The Oldest Vihara In Tanjungpinang Welcoming The Chinese New Year

Vihata Bahtra Sasana Tanjungpinang, Riau Islands, is preparing to welcome the 2023 Chinese New Year celebration. (Photo via Antara/Ogen)

TANJUNGPINANG - Chinese New Year 2023 will fall on Sunday, January 22. A number of monasteries or places of worship make preparations for the Confucian people to celebrate.

One of them is Vihara Bahtra Sasana, which is the oldest temple in Tanjungpinang City, Riau Islands Province (Kepri). This villa is literate to welcome the 2574 Chinese New Year.

Ahok, the management of Vihara Bahtra Sasana, said that no special preparations had been made. They only held cleaning activities to replace hanging lanterns.

"If something is dirty, we clean it up, then replace the old one with a new one, that's all," he said, as directed by Antara, Saturday, January 21.

Ahok said that the temple, which was established in 1857, was ready to carry out the Chinese New Year which will start on Saturday night.

He predicts that this year the number of visitors or Chinese citizens who will worship in the temple will increase compared to the previous year in line with the improving situation of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Despite the increasingly sloping development of COVID-19 cases. He still advised vihara visitors to comply with health protocols, for example by wearing masks when worshiping.

"We still need to be aware of the potential spread of COVID-19 at this year's Chinese New Year celebrations," said Ahok.

Ahok continued that this year his party did not limit the number of visitors to attend worship at Vihara Bahtra Sasana. Unlike in the past few years, when the number of COVID-19 was still high and social restrictions were tightened.

He also emphasized that religious people other than Chinese, are allowed to visit or just look around one of the cultural heritages in the center of the Riau Islands provincial capital.

"So far, there has never been a prohibition. Muslims to Christians, if they want to come here, go ahead, just comply with the provisions," said Ahok.